As we all know, discounts and sales bring an unusual traffic to your store. And in the wake of such situations, it becomes crucial for store owners to proactively anticipate and manage an over-crowded day at their store. This is not something new to a retailer, but yet a challenge to many! Before you experience your next retail rush, I'm going to discuss some useful tips that will help you maximize composure and minimize headaches.

Tip 1 - Reserve required stock More crowd means more demand! Ensure your store is always stocked up and organized to avoid glitches in such tragedy. Frequently check your stock – that should include shopping bags, gift wraps, packaging tapes, receipt book, first-aid kit and other necessary office supplies. Apart from those items, most important is to have sufficient inventory in hand. Tracking your stock constantly and inspecting your store's budget, you can stock any impulse item and other top sellers to avoid headaches during such over-crowded situations at your store. Keep your store room organized so it becomes easy to find items at a glance to avoid confusions in a rush. Tip 2 - Boost your staff It is always suggested to have a back staff ready for such situations. Hire seasonal staff and ensure the are present on such days offering them some enticing remunerations in return. Always keep them in loop in order to develop a good relationship and gain trust of them being present when you actually need them. Train them in advance so they deliver a great job during such situations. Also, you can hire security staff and medical expert – maybe 1-2 in case of emergency. Plan in detail all likely emergencies and hire your staff accordingly to efficiently manage over-crowded day at your store. Tip 3 - Take measures to offer a safe shopping experience You may be thrilled by the rush at your store, but instead of getting hazardous it crucial for you to take measure for their safety. You will not want anyone to be injured at your store, so keep it clean and clear obstacles to avoid harmful situations. But, you never know! Even, taking precautionary measures you may land up in a such situation, so ensure you have a medical assistance on-the-go. Tip 4 - Control access and visibility An over-crowded day at your store may lead to a risk of theft. So, this is where you need to ensure that areas such as storerooms and cash register have a restricted access to “employee-only.” Also, engage seasonal employees to monitor activity in your store during such days. This way you can implement control access and visibility to make sure that your store is safe during a rush day. Tip 5 - Backup for emergency situations Prepare a plan well-in advance to back-up for emergency situations. Create a special team to handle all likely emergencies – that can include common dangers like being stuck in the crowd, violent act, robbery, and fire. They should be trained well and be able to call the emergency line, if an accident occurs. In closing These above five tips will prepare you manage an over-crowded day at your store, your business will be able to accept and fulfill more orders with no headaches.

An inconvenience to both retailer and customer, but exchange is a part of every ecommerce business that can not be avoided. So, managing the exchange process becomes crucial for any ecommerce business. A comprehensive exchange policy will save time and money you spend on exchange, and keep customers coming back. Here are 4 ways to improve exchange policy that'll keep your customers informed and satisfied.

Determine your exchange criteria in a simple language

Let your customers know exactly what they should expect from your exchange process. Put clear, simple-to-understand policy on a relevant page of your site designed specifically for your exchange and shipping process. Your exchange policy should include the following:

1 - Product condition Clearly mention the product condition for accepting exchange, which will avoid misunderstanding. Post the required product condition in bullet points to claim for exchange. This way you keep your customers informed and conduct a smooth exchange process.

2 - Deadline for exchange Post deadlines for exchange to avoid confusions in accepting the exchange from customers. A standard deadline for exchange in ecommerce is 7-14 days, so making that clear in your exchange policy will remind customers to claim for an exchange within the deadline.

3 – Type of goods Not all type of goods can be accepted for exchange, but if you don't mention the type of goods will leave customers confused. And, you may end up receiving products for an exchange process which are not included in the list. For instance you could refuse to accept exchange of gifts and cakes. So, considering all your products, post the type of goods that can be claimed for an exchange to avoid confusion in the exchange process.

Describe the Mode of exchange Once you have decided your criteria, the next step you should be clear about is the mode of exchange. This is a decision that you need to make on your experience with your customers and product category. You can either offer a refund or a replacement. In case for a refund – you can have a store credit refund or a cash refund. Clearly mention the criteria for a store credit and cash refund in your exchange policy to process refund efficiently and smoothly. Most customers would find it feasible if you considered the option of a refund only in the case where you are unable to offer a replacement.

Make process of exchange clear Many businesses accept an exchange request only if the customer provides the bill or receipt received on delivery. This makes it frustrating for a customer whose claim was rejected just because a receipt was not provided. So, having such points included in your exchange policy will ease your exchange process and avoid such situation keeping your customers informed about the terms and conditions of your exchange policy. This way explaining your exchange process in a detail using bullet points in your exchange policy will improve efficiency and customer experience.

Always include exchange label and key criteria with every order you ship Having an exchange policy on your website is must, but if you want to avoid confusions in handing those returns - then it suggested to always include exchange label and key criteria with every order you ship. This way you don't have to make your customers wait for the return labels.

Including a shipping label in no more difficult. Hail to the world technology! More and more ecommerce businesses are adopting automation in their back-end operations, and integrating a complete retail software solutions will help you easily print multiple return labels in few simple clicks. This way including exchange label with every order that you ship will save time and cost as well as improving efficiency in handling exchanges.

In Closing Almost 90% of customers will go back to the store to make an additional purchase after a positive exchange experience. So with the above points and little bit of research, you can have a comprehensive exchange policy in place!

When a shopper visits your website, they immediately lookup for information on products that they intend to purchase, then they interpret from those information, and in the end decide whether to buy the product or not. Shoppers have multiple questions running in their mind during their purchase decisions. How quick and precise you answer to their questions will make or break your sale? This is where a live chat can help you attend such customers and close deals on your website.

Here are 5 reasons why live chat works for your ecommerce websites: 1 - Allow shoppers to be present on your site for long The longer you make shoppers stay on your website, the more likely you can convert that shopper into a buyer! A live chat functionality will help you track shoppers browsing behavior in real-time. If a shopper who is active on your site for more than 2 minutes means the shopper is already engaged with your site who maybe looking for some information on products that they intend to purchase. But, if they are unable to find those information quickly, may leave your site for one of your competitor. Therefore, having a live chat functionality on your site, you can easily have a chat window pop-up every 2 minutes to aid all lost shoppers encouraging them to be present on your site for long. This way you can offer great suggestion and promotions encouraging them to shop from your site "right now!" 2 - Offers personalized customer experience Online shopping does not allow a shopper to feel or touch the product before they buy, but speaking to human while making purchase decision makes them feel safe to add a product to their cart with no hesitation. A live chat functionality on your site will offer a personalized customer experience, as you can understand what your customers are looking for? Are they getting what they are looking for? This way you can instantly suggest the shoppers with relevant information and offer a 5% discount if they make a purchase on-the-go. This way you increase engagement, conversions and build long-term relationships. 3 - Increase average order value Implementing a live chat on your website, you can easily track shoppers browsing behavior which makes it easy for you to know exactly what your customers are looking for. This way you can instantly assist lost shoppers with relevant information they are looking for and also you a chance to upsell products at the same time. Because, shopper's questions are addressed on-the-go, they are most likely to add the suggested product to their cart, increasing average order value. 4 - Receive feedbacks A live chat functionality in your site enable shoppers to input their valuable views - whether good or bad. Those feedbacks provide a valuable insight for your business. You can then easily determine what they want and what they don't, making it easy for you to measure customer level satisfaction. This way you can focus more on loopholes and provide your shoppers with products and information they like, encouraging them to shop more from your site. 5 - Generates automated reports A live chat functionality on your site allows you to generate automated reports based on shoppers navigation behavior. This way you can easily analyze how many customers have browsed your site? For how long? Which page is visited the most? Which are the most-searched products? And much more. So, having these information on-the-go, you can easily attend shoppers quickly and increase engagement and conversions, abruptly!

In Closing Implementing a live chat functionality on your website offers easy and direct access to your sales and support team. This makes it convenient for shoppers to instantly ask questions from the convenience of their web browsers. No hassle for them to make a call, wait in queue, or even utter a word. They have to just type in their question and wait for polite response. This way you automatically increase the chances of engagement and conversions.

Why Amazon? Selling on Amazon – you will have strong competitors. But, that does not mean you drop out the idea of selling your products on Amazon. Let me tell you, Amazon enables any sized retailer – from a startup to big sized retailers, to easily set-up a store and sell to millions of potential customers, significantly increasing sales opportunities and acquire loyal customers. It is said, Amazon marketplace received nearly 90 millions unique visitors on monthly basis. This way selling on Amazon can be a real booster for your store's sales and profit margins.

Key features of an Amazon web store:

Robust online market platform to boost sales abruptly.

The most organized and arranged designed templates, that can be customizable too.

The best search-engine optimized platform to offer customers simple navigation and better search results, no matter what search engine they use.

The most trusted technology infrastructure.

The most trusted marketplace where customers confidentiality is maintained.

So, if you planning to take your business to the next level, getting to know Amazon marketplace integration services could make all difference in your success. Few simple tips to start selling on Amazon: Tip 1 - Decide what you want to sell Amazon offers over 20 product categories for any seller without requiring Amazon's approval for listing those products. However, some categories allow listing for new products only, whereas some categories have certain guidelines that a seller must follow. The categories that require Amazon's approval are sellers with a Professional selling account plan. So, the foremost thing when you think of selling on Amazon, you need to first check Amazon's categories, from where you can decide what you want to sell on Amazon. Tip 2 - Register for an appropriate selling plan If your category falls under “Professional selling plan,” then it enables you to sell unlimited products for which you pay $39.99 as a monthly subscription. And, if your category falls under “Individual selling plan,” then you are limited to sell not more than 40 products a month for which you pay $0.99 per item sold, with no monthly fee structure. Both Professionals and Individuals have an additional charges for referral fees & variable closing fees. So, register for an appropriate selling and proceed to the next step.” Tip 3 - Upload your listings After you opt your plan, you can quickly add products in your Amazon marketplace account, on at time. And, if you have a Professional selling account, then you can upload large products with “Amazon's bulk upload tool.” The faster you upload your products the quicker you drive-in sales. Ensure you upload high-quality images for all your products. Tip 4 - Sell your products As soon as you list your products don't get surprised to receive sales order in the very first hour because with Amazon 1-Click and a brand millions trust features, it helps customers make quick, easy, safe purchases. Tip 5 - Ship with FBA Once an order hits your account, Amazon will immediately notify you with that particular order's information. You then need to fulfil and deliver that order to you high-end customer, efficiently. Fulfillment has always remained one of the biggest challenges for online sellers, so if you are one of those sellers, then you can always let “Fulfillment By Amazon” do the work. Let Amazon pick, pack and ship your orders, while you sit back and focus more on your offerings. FBA sellers are eligible for “Featured Merchant status” in many categories, which can make you eligible to compete for the “Buy Box competition” on individual products. Also, Amazon handles customers service and returns for “Amazon.com” orders. Tip 6 - Receive payment from Amazon Once a sale is received in your Amazon account and the order is fulfilled, Amazon deposits payment in your bank account and notifies you for the same. Closure The above tips will help you quickly and easily start selling on Amazon (the world's largest online selling platform), and it is always suggested to make use of integration services offered by Amazon to get an edge while competing.

Search box is an important source of any successful ecommerce website, as it enables visitors to easily navigate and search for products they intend to purchase. It is seen that most online shoppers begin shopping from a website by typing the product name into the search box, instead of searching products manually. Therefore, it becomes very important for any business owners to understand the potential of this source, if they want to grow sales.

Below are the most effective ways that ecommerce business owners should consider in order to make site search powerful to increase conversions. 1 – Optimize your search box Your site's search box should include all the search items that will easily direct shoppers to appropriate landing or product listing pages. It becomes very important to study your site's navigation and include effective product names, codes, and even SKU numbers that will help shoppers to easily and quickly find information to make a purchase, on-the-go. This way testing and optimization your search box will hold back customers on the site, offering a good customer experience. When you offer a good customer experience, you automatically increase conversion rates. 2 – Well-position search box As mentioned above, most of the online shoppers will look up for a search box as soon as they enter a site, which makes it easy for them to find products. So always remember, the placement of your search-box becomes crucial to your visitor's experience. In order to convert potential visitors to a sales lead, your search-box has to be well-positioned on each page, mostly preferred near the top corner different from your site's color in order to draw attention of those potential visitors, who may end up leaving your website for one of your competitor just because they could not find a search box, immediately. 3 – Navigation and Filters The “search results” will determine of whether a user clings on the site or leaves it. Ensure you place navigation bars that attracts the visitors eye as soon as they land on your site which will help them instantly search for the information they are looking for. It is recommended to place your navigation bars from left to right with filter options that will help them narrow down products further – by price, color, size, range, etc. Always remember the more effective navigations and filter options your site has, they more you will entice visitors to shop from your site again and again. 4 – Auto complete search results Online customers always prefer to shop from sites that offer quick results. Auto complete is another time-saver that will deal with misspellings and instantly provide the information that the visitor is looking for. The more easily you implement techniques that can provide quick information to visitors, the higher conversion rates will be. 5 – Always Test and Update The more you test and update your website, the more you bring in sales. Your visitor's behavior is changing every now and then, therefore your product offerings have to be in accordance to their need increase conversion rates. Its said by a survey, about 11% to 15% of online shoppers begin shopping by typing into the search box, so it becomes important to know their needs and offer accurate information they are looking for. Therefore, frequently testing and updating your site will give you ideas to increase conversions ratio.Warning: It's obvious, you won't always be able to show results your visitors are looking for. But, instead of showing up a dead page saying “No results found”, you should have a softer approach suggesting them with alternate places to go. Put yourself into a visitor's shoe and test your site's search in order to avoid common errors.You might also like : Get increased sales through good website design and navigation